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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: row · capital · fork · pitch · squash · press · rule · kid

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. press — a publisher
  3. squash — the sport
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. rule — a law
  8. row — to paddle
  9. rule — government
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. pitch — completely
  12. squash — to crush
  13. press — newspapers
  14. kid — child
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. fork — in a road
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. row — a line
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. capital — a city
  22. press — to push
  23. kid — to tease
  24. pitch — a sports field

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com